Tuesday, June 26, 2007

5 Surprising Cleaning Products from Your Pantry (and Medicine Cabinet)

5 Surprising Cleaning Products from Your Pantry
By Christina Spence
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Fabulous cleaning products don’t need to cost a fortune or be wrapped up in fancy packages to do a great job of cleaning your home. In fact, some of the most effective cleaners are likely hiding in your pantry, just waiting for you to give them a try. Here are five cleaning products that you can use everyday, that are already sitting in your pantry or medicine cabinet.

Baking Soda – I’m known as a bit of a baking soda nut! Why? This powerful little box may not look impressive, but it contains a serious multitasking cleaner. Use it as a powder cleanser, to neutralize odors naturally, and even to wash floors and walls.

Vinegar – This is the other top cleaning powerhouse that every home needs. I tend to buy MASSIVE jugs of this stuff, because I use it like a madwoman. Vinegar is a natural acid, meaning that it does a lot of the tougher cleaning jobs around your home – but at a fraction of the cost of commercial cleaners. Plus, it’s friendlier for you, your family AND the environment. Use it in natural cleaning formulas, to clean out the coffeemaker, to remove hard water stains, and much more. For dozens of way to use this amazing stuff, visit http://www.kitchencraftsnmore.net/vinegar.html

Club soda – This is a surprisingly good glass and mirror cleaner! Either fresh or old unfizzy stuff will work fine. Just pour this into a clean spray bottle and use as you would any glass cleaner. Use a lint-free cloth or paper towel to give stainless steel surfaces a shine with this too.

Shaving cream – Surprise! Shaving cream is a surprisingly effective carpet and clothing stain remover. Just squeeze some out onto the stain (moisten first with a bit of cool water – never warm water, as that will set the stain) and use a scrubber brush to get it down deep into the fibers. Rinse and continue until stain is removed.

Lemon juice – Lemon juice (or other citrus juices such as orange juice) works great as a degreasing agent. Plus, it’s also a pretty darn wonderful disinfectant and stain remover. Dip a cut lemon into some baking soda or salt and use as the best smelling scrubber around – awesome for sinks and tubs. Or, make a paste of table salt and lemon juice and use as a pre treatment for tough laundry stains.

Christina is the Original Happy Slob – the author of: "The Happy Slob’s Guide to Housecleaning." If you hate to clean, drop by http://www.happyslob.com/ today to learn how thousands of slobs around the world are learning fast and easy (and laid back) tips to make cleaning less of a bore, and less of a chore! (And…the Daily Blog is at: http://happyslob.blogspot.com/)

2 comments:

~*Jobthingy*~ said...

Shaving Cream also works as a great anti fog agent for your bathroom mirror. just put a squirt on (has to be the foam and not the gel) wipe it all around the mirror then wipe off with a paper towel.

Anonymous said...

One of my cats threw up on the carpet, but after cleaning, the sicky smell lingered. My usual air freshener of opening all the windows and spraying white vinegar in the air didn't work, so I left a bowl of white vinegar in the room and the smell went completely.